Beringia: the “Land Bridge” between Asia and America

• QUESTION:

– Where did the “Native Americans” come from?

• ANSWER:

– Asia.

The Big Question…

• QUESTION:

– Why are Native Americans called “Indians?”

• ANSWER:

– Christopher Columbus made a big mistake...but that’s another story for another day…

The Big BoBo…

a definition: Migration

• MIGRATION: when people or animals move from one place to live in another place…

• Notice:

– Migrate is the root word of immigrate

– Migration is the root word of immigration

5 Migration Theories

• Two migration theories suggest humans crossed the Pacific Ocean to get to America.

• Two migration theories suggest humans crossed the Atlantic Ocean to get to America.

• One migration theory suggests humans crossed dry land or ice-covered land to get to America.

• Based on the work of ANTHROPOLOGISTS and by examining the artifacts found by ARCHAEOLOGISTS…the most widely accepted migration theory is the BERINGIA land crossing theory.

BERINGIA

three definitions:

• ANTHROPOLOGIST: someone who studies people and their culture (the way they live their lives)

• ARCHAEOLOGIST: someone who searches for the ARTIFACTS of the people of the past

• ARTIFACT: anything that was made by a human (tools, weapons, clothes, etc.)

BERINGIA

• BERINGIA is the term used to describe the area between Siberia (in Asia) and Alaska (in North America).

• The Bering Strait (water) lies between Siberia and Alaska today.

• Anything named “Bering” is named in honor of the Russian explorer, Vitus Bering.

The Last Ice Age

• c. 35,000 years ago – the last ICE AGE began

– Earth’s temperatures fell

– glacier ice grew larger and thicker

– sea levels fell because water was sucked up and frozen into the glaciers

Migration

• c. 30,000 years ago – people began to travel back and forth between Asia and America

– probably following animal herds for food

– large numbers of people moving to new places is called MIGRATION

– people who move from place to place are called NOMADS

Animals of North America at the time of the arrival of humans.

• c. 15,000 years ago – people began shifting further to the south and east

– moved into what is the present-day USA

– moved through present-day Mexico

– settled as far south as present-day Chile

Migration, con’t

End of the Last Ice Age

• c. 10,000 years ago – the last Ice Age began to end

– Earth’s temperature began to rise

– climates warmed, vegetation and animals began to change

– glaciers melted and sea levels rose; BERINGIA was covered with water

A big discovery…

• c. 9,000 years ago – people living in Central America discovered how to cultivate MAIZE

• MAIZE – corn…

The effects of MAIZE

• people who cultivated MAIZE provided an abundant food supply for their family group

– encouraged permanent communities

– encouraged the growth in population

• people changed…

– from hunting and gathering to farming and herding

– from Asian style culture to

“Native American” culture

Native American Cultures

Native American Cultures

• “empires” grew…Maya, Aztec, Inca, etc.

Beringia: the“Bridge” between Asia and America